AI Accelerates R&D for Pesticide Companies to Address Increasing Pest Issues in Imported Crops

Crop protection companies developing pesticides are increasingly incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) throughout the agricultural value chain to speed up data analysis and enhance the Research & Development (R&D) process. Ankur Aggarwal, Chairman of Croplife India and CMD of Crystal Crop Protection, informed CNBC-TV18 that AI is already handling most of the communication with farmers. He expressed optimism that AI will address challenges in the agri-tech sector related to unmanaged diseases and pests. According to him, shorter R&D cycles will significantly reduce the time needed for new products to enter the market, benefiting both farmers and consumers.

With a growing nutrient uptake in the country and a rise in fruit and vegetable consumption, he noted that the introduction of new crops naturally brings about new pests and diseases. He cited an example of resilient pests arriving from other countries, such as a maize pest from Africa that later affected other crops. Highlighting India’s significant reliance on China for crop protection chemicals, he remarked that supply chains are becoming more robust, even as India’s import reliance in the crop protection sector has decreased over the last decade, envisioning India as a potential supplier of crop protection chemicals to various nations.

He called on the government to ensure Protection of Regulatory Data (PRD) for new molecules for a minimum of 5 years following registration in India under the draft Pesticides Management Bill. He pointed out that the data protection period in countries like Europe, the U.S., China, Brazil, Vietnam, and the Philippines ranges from 6 to 10 years. He elaborated that patents grant commercial protection for 20 years from the date of issuance, with 8 to 10 years typically devoted to securing commercial registration in the first country of introduction, which involves data generation and approval from local regulatory authorities. In India, he added, it takes another 5 to 7 years to gather local data and complete registration, leaving an average of only 4 to 5 years of patent protection during which a new patented product can be launched commercially. He emphasized that many crop protection products have yet to enter the Indian market and advocated for protection of incurred costs to encourage innovation in the sector.